Far Lands

To most people (including me until I joined the Northern Fruit Group) apples are mainly quite similar. Different to pears, and very different to bananas. Two types, eaters and cookers. Then as I became interested, and the hundreds of different varieties began revealing themselves, growing different cultivars grabbed my attention. Grafting, rootstocks and scions etc. My latest focus is identification. Place an apple in front of me, and I will . . . be very unlikely to be able to identify it. But I am learning the basics. Shape (flat, round, conical, oblong), and what to look for:- shape and length of the stalk, depth and width of the cavity, whether the eye is closed or open or semi-open, whether there are ribs, bloom, a hairline, hammering, russetting, mottling . . . the list goes on and on. The more I know (or think I know) the more confused I am.  To give an example. Our cooker. The tree was here when we arrived and the previous owner said it was a Bramley ( B...

Winter's coming and although there's Xmas I like to have a back up to get me through to the Spring. The answer ( my answer) is sloe vodka. So now is the time to get in the hedgerows, especially down South. I hope one day to be able to harvest bucket loads from our own foraging hedge (planted 2 years ago with plenty of blackthorn - but no sloes yet). So I turned to the local hedgerows. After 2 hours I had a motley selection weighing 400g. But at least that was something. Then last week I went to Whitstable and did a local hedgerow walk towards Canterbury. In about 20 minutes four of us collected over 3 kilos!   Recipe 1 litre bottle 400g sloes (if collected before first frost put in freezer for a few days before you make it) 100g sugar (that's quite dry and how I like it; 200g of sugar makes it far sweeter) fill with vodka (or gin if you prefer) Then leave for 6 months (occasionally turn upside down). Decant and drink. Easter is looking good!

Tragedy struck in the turkey paddock this week. When we first arrived at Farlands our neighbour grazed a few sheep and lambs in the paddock and a legacy of that use is a large circular drinking trough. Over the years I have occasionally emptied it as it gets quite stagnant but it always fills again, naturally with rainfall. At the end of last week I let the turkeys out in the morning as usual. But when I went to check on them at lunchtime, I could only find four. That is very unusual as normally they waddle around in a tight group. I could not find the fifth turkey and I decided to put them back in their house while I looked. As I did so I walked past the drinking trough. There was the fifth turkey. Floating. Turkeys can't swim. Jam sarnies for Xmas.

A while ago (post 230) I wrote about finding a deer on our lawn. Well, it or a relation (at least a distant one) has been back. Several times. My step-overs and cordon line have been attacked. In response I am raising the fence at the far side of the lawn but also I am considering lion dung. Apparently this is the thing to put off deer, and of course, like anything, it is available on Amazon. Any other ideas are welcome.

Our turkey poults are still quite cute, but eating so much that they soon won't be. Turkey Club, if you didn't know, is for the owners of the birds; at least, the owners on 25 December. The first rule of Turkey Club is to name your bird; so far this year we have a Fairy Baubles although I am not sure I would want to eat it. Ours is simply called Gobble . Other names when I get them.

Not for me. Instead, on Saturday evening we did a 3 bird cook up. First, a pheasant that I'd shot a few months back. (With an apple and herb sauce.) Second, a chicken carcass that remained from when we cut the main joints from one of our surplus roosters. And, third, a rabbit. I could tell you where I got it from on the blog, but it may be better in person. We decided to eat pheasant for our evening meal (and managed not to find the pellet). On the side we had runner beans, the last of our broad beans and a sweetcorn (grown in the greenhouse; half was perfect golden-yellow and sweet as could be but the top had not developed and was still white (this is the result of poor pollination; next year I will try hand-pollinating). Most of the meat was subsequently portioned up and went back in the freezer for some hearty (meaty) Winter warming.

. . . if I was a god, anyway. You may remember in March last year when I planted some rooted blackberry cuttings that I had obtained from Tyn Dwr, an old Welsh arboretum (see Blogs 154 and 158). Well, here is their progress in just 18 months. Fantastic growth, and huge great blackberries. Not quite enough for my needs, however, and I have also been out picking in the local hedgerows. They are perfect on cereal, make fabulous jam and can easily be frozen. So, get out there . . . just not in Hayfield!